When Nikki Haley arrived on stage at her first presidential campaign event, there were no red caps or QAnon flags. No 'boos' when a perceived political enemy was invoked. Instead, her launch event was a dip back into a political time before Donald Trump.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley arrives on stage at her first campaign event on Feb. 15, 2023, in Charleston, S.C. | Win McNamee/Getty ImagesCHARLESTON, S.C. — There were no red caps or QAnon flags in the crowd when Nikki Haley took the stage today at the Charleston Visitor Center.
Speaking to a packed covered pavilion, Haley, 51, made her opening case to the Republican electorate to take her bid for the White House seriously. She avoided any direct mention of her former boss, despite painting a picture of a party that should dump “the stale ideas and faded names of the past,” while requiring “mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years.”The event was not devoid of the pugilism and politics of personality that Trump has come to personify.
“In 2016, President Trump was exactly what our country and our party needed,” said Norman, who was part of Haley’s 2004 freshman class in the South Carolina statehouse, and endorsed her longshot bid for governor in 2010. The congressman, who had been a vocal supporter of Trump and voted against certifying the 2020 election results, called Haley a “fierce, bold leader who will fight for America.”
Like other Republicans expected to enter the field, Haley will have to walk a fine line in how she criticizes the former president and his policies and personality. Trump put Haley on the international stage when he appointed her ambassador to the United Nations in 2017, an experience she touts as part of her pitch to voters.
By entering the race early, Haley positioned herself to not only capture much-needed earned media in the coming weeks — she heads to New Hampshire on Thursday, and to Iowa after that — but campaign funds too. Many of her potential GOP opponents are limited in their ability to raise federal funds until they enter the race, though her fellow South Carolina Republican, Sen. Tim Scott, has nearly $22 million on hand that could be transferred to a presidential campaign account.
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